‘Awareness about epilepsy still need of the hour’

Published on February 8, 2021

Ahmedabad: The first thing the neuro-physicians face while attending to the patient with epilepsy is apprehensions about their married life. Will they be able to get married, can parent a child or lead a normal life are on top of the relatives’ minds when they start understanding the periodic convulsions.

“But as this year’s theme suggests, epilepsy is more than seizures,” said city-based senior neuro-physician and Padma Shri awardee Dr Sudhir Shah. “In my book with my daughter Dr Heli, a neurologist, we tried to dispel several myths around the phenomenon. With medical advances, our understanding of the condition has improved, and intervention can surely help.”

How did the pandemic affect the patients? Dr Malav Gadani, a city-based neuro-physician, said that some of the medical conditions of Covid-19 and even its after effects caused convulsions in some of the patients. “Fortunately, none of the patients were affected due to lack of medicines during the peak of the pandemic. But surely, awareness plays a major role when it comes to dispelling myths and providing emotional support to the patients,” he said.

Dr Mukesh Sharma, a city-based neurologist, said that in very general parlance, it can be understood as ‘short-circuit’ of brain where the neurons cannot communicate properly. “Of course, the phenomenon is more complex, but the takeaway is, it is not something to feel stigmatized about or worried about when it comes to daily activities. It is not hereditary and it can also have high or low rates of occurrences for an individual,” he said.